


Underneath The Ocean

by hazelnuthuntress



Category: Siren's Lament (Webcomic), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-04 00:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelnuthuntress/pseuds/hazelnuthuntress
Summary: [a plance fic ] [based on the Webtoon Siren's Lament by instantmiso]Lance McClain is a siren. Well, he used to be a human, and something happened to make him a siren. Lance knows well that sirens come from heartbreaks. He remembers nothing and has no hope for his future. He has no intention of making someone face his same miserable state.Then he meets Katie Holt, a heart-broken girl who might just help him get his life back together.Sometimes, not remembering is for the best.





	1. Chapter 1

[k a t i e]

"I broke his heart, Katie," Allura cried. "I didn't love him like that... and now he's gone."

Katie looked up at the taller girl with big honey eyes, tears welling up in them. She placed a timid hand on hers. "It wasn't your fault, Allura." She thought of _him,_ of the boy that was now gone. She still remembered the day he disappeared like it was yesterday.

It was Katie who told him he should confess his feelings towards Allura. Lance was head over heels for her. It was painful for Katie to watch, for more reasons than one. But he was one of her best friends, and she thought... she thought Allura felt the same, by the way she was leading him on.

But she was wrong. And it was her fault.

Lance ran, ran to the only place he knew for comfort, and Katie struggled to keep from following him.

_No, not yet._

She'd texted him to make sure he was alright.

 **KATIE:** Hey, Lance, you doing ok?

 **LANCE:** No. But I'll survive. I'm down at the beach.

 **KATIE:** Do you want some company?

 **LANCE:** No thanks. I just want to be alone right now.

 **KATIE:** Okay.

[an hour later]

 **KATIE:** Lance? You there?

[no response]

Panic rose in her and she fought the urge to cry. Immediately she called Allura, telling her the situation— "what if he went for a swim and _drowned_?"— and the two girls searched the shore late at night for Lance.

Katie felt a crunch under her foot, and looked down to see a phone. _His_ phone. And his shirt. So he _had_ gone swimming... but where was he?

"Lance? Are you there?" Katie called, scanning the waves for a figure. Allura was silent beside her, staring at her feet in shame.

"I- I have to go in and look for him," Katie whispered. "He... he might still be there..."

Allura reached forward to stop her but Katie had already thrown herself into the water, pushing herself through the darkness with strength that surprised her. Tears stung her eyes and floated out to the sea. Her vision blurred, but she could see clearly that the sea floor was barren. Not a single thing in sight.

—-

They sent search parties to the area.

The search was futile.

Katie felt hopeless. Allura felt guilty.

_If only I had gone with him._

_If only I had lied and told him I loved him._

Lance McClain was gone, forever. Drowned in the ocean from his own sorrows. She wanted to believe it was an accident, and not suicide at all.

_It couldn't have been. He's stronger than that._

So she believed he was dead, drowned in a tragic accident that only _coincidentally_ involved heartbreak and sorrow.

But he wasn't dead.

 


	2. Chapter 2

[l a n c e]

He'd woken up on the shore, water drifting over his body, gently pulling him in. He felt groggy and disfigured, and his mind was completely blank, except for three things.

His name was Lance.

He was a siren.

And his heart had been broken.

He rolled over on his side so he could get a better view of the beach. _Where am I and how did I get here?_ Like instinct, he knew the process by which he got to the place he was now. But... all the little details were nonexistent.

He glanced at his shiny blue tail, a shimmering collection of scales that shone in the pale dawn light. The fin at the end fluttered upwards as if to say hello, greeting him with a mad slap of sea salt and water.

"Ack!" He spat out the water, forcing the tail to lay flat. He may have known who he was, but that didn't make learning to control his new body any easier.

He shimmied further down into the water, pushing himself backwards on the sand and into the cool of the ocean.

 _There. Step one._ His cocoa colored hair floated around him like an aura, caressing his face. He was surrounded by an endless plane of white sand, shells, and coral. He didn't see anything that put him in immediate danger. But he knew he had to get away from the shore as quickly as possible, in case someone spotted him.

He pumped his tail up and down, placing his hands at his side, and propelled himself through the water. With ease, he drifted through the water, effortlessly twirling through like a torpedo.

Through the blur of water rushing past him, he saw tiny fish flitting by, stingrays coasting majestically above him, and seaweed tickling his stomach as he swam.

He could live like this, floating peacefully in the water like a lily pad. He was sure his past self would've enjoyed this. Being a siren felt just so _natural_ , like he was born for it.

But no matter how much he enjoyed this freedom, he had to find out _who_ he was. Who was Lance McClain, and what happened to him?

 


	3. Chapter 3

[k a t i e]

It had been a month since Katie last saw Lance. Since the night he disappeared, _died._ A month where everyday, Katie struggled to fill the whole in her heart that he had left in her.

She dreaded leaving school that day, facing the void of nothingness her afternoons often held. He was her best friend, and now he was gone.

It was her senior year of high school, and she was sixteen years old. School was usually fun, with Lance, Hunk, and Keith each in her classes. Hunk and Keith were still there, but they were quiet, too, each sharing in their own grief.

Lance brought things to life, and she loved him for that. Yes, she'd admit it: she was in _love,_ and she adored being around him, even if it was just to hear him talk about Allura.

The teacher droned on about the subject, sending half the class to sleep. Katie had trouble staying awake herself, having been kept up all last night and all month with nightmares. She'd stayed up late plenty of times, but none with fear piercing her heart like knives.

She dreamt that she was at the beach that night, under the water as some sort of spectator, watching Lance drown to his death. She felt herself scream for him, swim towards him, but she couldn't touch him.

And sometimes, she'd take his place, feeling water fill her lungs and something yank on her ankles and anchor her to the ground.

She would wake up in the middle of the night, heart racing, sweat and tears mixing on her face.

Katie stared emotionlessly at the wall in front of her, and when the dismissal bell rung, she sprang to life and left as if the building was on fire. She ran out of the school, pushing past students in the swarm that seemed to move through the hallways like a single living organism.

Biking to the beach for Katie took only fifteen minutes. She parked her bike at the edge of the cliff and made her way down the steep trail that opened up onto sand. She kicked off her sandals and sunk her toes in the sand, closing her eyes blissfully and taking deep breaths.

With a blink, she was looking over the waters, squinting at the sunlight that slid over the waves like butter, and she felt her heart long to go and dip her feet, her body in the sea and join him.

She came here every day in hopes to capture a last wisp of Lance before he was lost with time, and faded from memories. Before he was nothing _but_ a memory. Katie's hair, turning amber like the sun, blew around, cool wind carrying her wishes to who knew where.

She would stand and soak in the breeze, the sun, just as Lance used to do. If she couldn't see him, maybe she could at least _be_ him for a little while.

With her eyes closed and the music of the ocean filling her mind, she didn't notice the pair of eyes watching her from the water.

"Your heart... it's broken."

Katie's eyes darted open and she wildly flailed in fear, heart racing. Where did that _voice_ just come from?

"Who did it to you?"

She looked towards the water, shocked. That voice, holy _quiznak,_ it was _his_ voice! She stepped back at the sight before her, scared her mind had gone mad and she was making things up.

There was Lance, hair soaked and dripping onto his body. He was shirtless, only his upper chest and up coming out of the water.

But it was him. It couldn't be a mirage, could it?

Katie didn't care. She took timid steps towards him, afraid that if she blinked or put too much pressure on the sand that the ocean would come and wash him away like he was part of it, too, nothing but a marvelous, beautifully made work of art to last an hour.

"L-Lance, is that you?"

 


	4. Chapter 4

[l a n c e]

Lance stood still, tail swirling steadily in the water beneath him. He'd sensed a broken heart from a mile away, and fueled by curiosity and loneliness, he followed it like a scent. It was a gentle blue glow that shone like a lighthouse to him, bringing him back _here,_ to this beach.

The girl with wild hair that spread on all sides like a bird ruffling her feathers approached him carefully. She said his name. His _name._ She knew who he was. She could tell him what happened.

He let her come closer, let her swim towards him with careful strokes, like she was afraid he'd leave.

"I'm not going to leave," he said, slightly amused.

With that, the girl threw herself at him, wrapping tiny arms around his bare chest and resting her face in the space between his shoulder and neck.

He didn't know what to do, so he returned the gesture, blinking with slight confusion as she sobbed into him.

"Lance... I thought you were _dead,"_ she whispered. "I missed you so much."

Hanging onto him, Lance as her buoy, the girl's legs brushed against his tail, and she tensed up.

"What was that?" Her voice was solid with fear.

"I don't remember anything from the night I... I died—" That was the best way he knew how to explain it. "— But I know something. I was turned into a siren."

The girl looked up at him, big honey eyes wide with confusion. "What?"

"I'm not the same Lance you must have known," he explained. "I've lost all memory."

"So you don't know who I am?"

Lance shook his head. Her blue heart visibly cracked. And for some reason he couldn't explain, his body itched to move forward and kiss her, take away that heartbreak. He didn't know her, at least not now, so that urge wasn't his own.

It must have been a siren thing. That must be how he ended up like this. The siren body was transferred through a kiss to a heartbroken human. He'd switched places with someone. But who?

"Hey, it's okay," Lance said, trying his best to comfort the girl. He stroked her hair, unsure of whether she liked it or not. She seemed slightly soothed from it, so he continued.

"We used to be best friends," the girl whimpered.

"Then we still are! Who said that had to stop?" Lance said, smiling. She smiled back, even if weakly. "First, name."

"It's Ka—" she began, but Lance placed a finger on her lips.

"No, no, not with me. Best friends have nicknames. You are now Pigeon," Lance announced, patting her on the head.

"Pigeon? That's a ridiculous name!" she cries, all the while laughing. "What if I call you Fish, then?"

Lance let out a chuckle. "I don't know why you'd get that idea..."

It'd felt like they knew each other forever, then. And maybe they had. She knew so much about him and he was clueless.

"Pidge?" The laughter died down, and the girl tilted her head in confusion, her eyes asking a question. "Who broke my heart? And who broke yours?"

From the way she was still holding onto him, Lance thought that Pidge liked him. Loved him, even. 

"Did... Did I break your heart?"

 


	5. Chapter 5

[k a t i e]

Her heart stopped beating for a moment. This was something she was hoping to avoid. How could he tell she was heartbroken, miserable, struggling to find hope in the world?

Was it that obvious? "How...?" she managed to say, looking up at him with big amber eyes. 

He pointed to her chest. "I see a blue heart. That means it's broken."

As simple as he said it, it scared her. Katie hated being so vulnerable in front of people. She was used to closing herself off, keeping her emotions to herself. People used those things against her. But here, everything she felt was in the open. Lance could see the things she'd been keeping to herself for the past month... and then before that, as she watched him pine after Allura. He didn't know a single thing about her, or their friendship, but thank God he knew about all her inner turmoil!

She pulled away from him, suddenly embarrassed that they'd ever been that close. "I... I have to go."

A hand grasped hers before she could move away- quiznak, she wasn't as quick and nimble in the water as she was on land- and Lance said, "Please, Pidge. I need to know what happened. You're the only one who can make me feel like me again."

She could hear the hurt in his voice, the same desperation to have and to hold something familiar. Katie closed her eyes, tears stinging at them as she took a deep breath, ignoring the tingling sensations that crawled up her hand and arm to her heart where his fingers grasped hers. She had to put aside her own selfish desires, just for a moment. She had to open up to him, no matter how hard it was, because he needed her to. She'd do it, tell him everything, because it was for him. For Lance.

Turning to him and willing any semblance of tears to return to their place in her body, Katie nodded. "Okay. I'll tell you everything."

"Great!" Lance beamed, his smile catching her off guard. She never knew how much she needed that smile again until then. "I know a place we can get more comfortable in. Do you mind...?" He'd turned his back to her, looking over his shoulder at her with his blue puppy eyes. 

Huffing in embarrassment with a blush on her skin, Katie wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso, trying not to think about how absolutely warm and soft he felt- she completely failed, though.

His strong tail pumped water from under them, and she braced for impact with the water. It rushed over her head and through her hair and all around her, enveloping her in a cold cocoon that seemed to flood her being. At first, it sent a shock through her, making her want to collapse in on herself, but when she warmed up to it, she smiled. It felt like she was being cleansed of all the hurt.

Every few seconds, she'd tap Lance's shoulder and he'd come up to the surface so she could breath. She looked around and realized there wasn't a shore she knew in sight. They'd travelled far. 

"Almost there, Pidge," Lance said, and to her surprise, he didn't sound at all exasperated. He dove under again, and they were off.

 


	6. Chapter 6

[l a n c e]

"Where are we?" Pidge asked, hoisting herself onto a nearby rock. Lance had taken the two of them to a cave on the shore, so he could come out of the water comfortably without the danger of other humans spotting him.

"It's somewhere I come when I want to think alone, away from the water," he answered, pushing himself out of the water and beside her. The scales on his tail flickered the same blue in his eyes. 

"You... loved the water, Lance," Pidge whispered, her eyes betraying her emotions. 

"But now... the water reminds me of everything I lost and don't know," he responded quietly. Meeting her eyes, he asked, "Pidge, about before...?"

Taking a deep breath, the girl braced herself for her answers. "Years ago, when I met you all... er, that is, you, Keith, and Hunk, I had nobody. Shortly after my father and brother died in a car wreck, Mom and I moved, so I moved schools. We wanted a fresh start, and Mom wanted to leave behind her nightmares... not that it really worked." She looked down at where Lance had placed his hand in hers, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb comfortingly. "I closed myself off to meeting new people and making new friends. I was afraid to lose anyone else. I dedicated myself to my studies, hoping to drown out my loneliness in my thirst for knowledge. Then one day, you introduced yourself to me, sympathising and seeing through the walls I'd put up around myself. You brought me into your group of friends, making me feel welcome. I kept trying to convince myself that you were just pitying me, that soon you'd get tired of me or I'd lose you just like I lost my family, but you insisted I open up to you. Lance, you were the kindest person I ever knew. Always so perceptive to people's emotions, always trying to make people laugh and smile, and putting them before you. I guess when I realized that I wasn't going to shake you, that's when I..." 

She looked up at him, cheeks dusted pink, before her eyes darted down to the water below them again. "...that's when I realized I was falling in love with you. I denied it, lied to myself and everyone else. But then Allura Altea showed up, a transfer from England, and I couldn't deny it anymore. She walked into the school with her beautiful silver-blue hair flowing out behind her and her smile lighting up a room and I could tell from that moment that you were infatuated with her, obsessed from that moment on.

 "And you had every right to be. Allura was generous, passionate, and defended anyone in trouble. She was so open to everyone, so kind and beautiful and I felt like I was stuck in her shadow. I wasn't as tall as her, as curvy as her, as patient as her. She had a boyfriend back home in England, this guy named Lotor. I remembered you talking about how you were going to win her over, get married as soon as you turned eighteen. Then Allura broke up with Lotor when she found out he was in prison, and you were there for her every inch of the way. She was so grateful for your support, but she'd admitted to me- we were good friends, Allura and I, almost like sisters- that she knew you had other intentions, but she had no interest in you. 

"I wanted to tell you... half to protect you from heartbreak, but half because I was still jealous of her, and didn't want you to go after her. But I couldn't, because I felt guilty for ever wanting to ruin... I don't know, there were too many things and emotions in my head that I didn't know how to handle. I guess I could've prevented everything that had happened if maybe I told you she didn't like you back. I could've helped you through your pain after that, rather than just let you humiliate yourself and get rejected like you did. When you asked her out, she told you the same thing she told me, and heartbroken, you ran to the beach like you always did when you wanted to be alone. I texted you to make sure you were okay, and you responded, saying you just wanted to be alone. I checked up on you an hour later to see if you were okay, but you never responded."

Lance remained silent after she stopped talking, tears dripping into the water below her. He squeezed her hand, hoping to stop her tears. He reached over, gently wiping them away with his thumb. "Thank you, Pidge, for telling me everything. I know how hard it must have been for you."

She simply nodded, leaning into his hand. 

"I don't think this can ever make up for the past, but if I had known how you felt before, I never would have chased someone who never loved me back, Pidge," Lance said. "I would have chased after you."

 


	7. Chapter 7

[k a t i e]

Heart racing in her chest, Katie met his gaze. "...What?"

Blushing, Lance scooted a bit closer to her, avoiding her eyes. "I... I know this might sound cheesy, but even just knowing you again for a few hours has made me realize that I don't want to live without you, Pidge. You needed me then, but now I need you. You needed a friend and I needed someone to remind me of who I was. You might not realize that you are every bit as beautiful as any girl I've ever seen or can conjure up in my imagination. You are caring because you came here, and she didn't. You told me your story even though it was hard just so I could have mine again. And for that, I... I think I'm falling in love with you."

Katie found herself leaning towards him, eyes studying his lips. She closed her eyes and felt his lips meet hers, an infinity of soft and warm and gentle. Her heart fluttered as his hands wove through her hair, still drying from their ocean swim. This... was everything she'd dreamed it be, and more. So much more, because it was real.

Lance rested his forehead on hers to breath, and turned a dark shade of red. "Uh, Pidge, don't look down, but I'm pretty sure I'm human again."

"Wha- what? How did it work?" she covered her eyes and backed away from him. 

"Well, I became a siren from the lack of love, and you brought me back to my human form from fulfillment of it," Lance said. "I'll say, I wouldn't mind turning into a siren again if you kissed me every time, Katie Holt."

Katie...? She never got to tell him her name. That must have meant...! Just as she was prepared to throw herself at him for a hug, he stopped her, chuckling.

"Hold up, buttercup, I still need pants," Lance said. "Here, give me your jacket. Then, we can hug."

After securing the make-shift pair of pants around himself, Lance hoisted the tiny Katie and threw his arms around her. "Thank you, Katie, for helping me realize that everything I needed was right in front of me."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
